The California-headquartered manufacturer ViewSonic has reportedly launched a new slate PC, called ViewPad97i Pro. It runs on a Windows 7 operating system (the Chinese version of the tablet will also come with a Windows 8 OS after October 26th) and is now available for purchase, carrying a $488 price-tag.

Apparently, the portable device is powered by a Cedarview Intel Atom N2600 CPU that packs two processing cores clocked at 1.6GHz and the built-inIntel GMA 3600 graphics controller. In addition, the ViewPad97i Pro is equipped with a 9.7-inch capacitive In-Plane Switching touchscreen display of 1024-by-768 pixels native resolution and a 1.3MP front-facing web camera for video conferencing.

According to the product data sheet, users are further provided with 2GB of DDR3 RAM (which is also the maximum amount of RAM that the integrated single-channel memory controller can handle) and a 32GB Solid-State Drive for storing files and apps. Built around an Intel NM10 Chipset, ViewSonic’ latest slate PC offers two USB 2.0 ports, G-sensor and a mini-HDMI interface complemented by Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth radios.

The US company claims that the ViewPad 97i Pro measures 15.3mm thick (about 0.6-inch) and weighs 998g with the 4900mAh battery.